Leg Spin To Win

Short boundaries, big bats, free hits, power plays, flat wickets. Switch hitting batsmen can now be added to the list too and the spinner’s margin for error just dropped from minimal to non-existent.

Over the last three major Twenty20 tournaments however (Big Bash League, World Twenty20 and Indian Premier League), a light has emerged from the darkness.

The leg spinner.

For the early years of Twenty20, modest and reliable orthodox bowlers were preferred; think Daniel Vettori, Harbhajan Singh and Xavier Doherty.

But leg spin appears to be more in vogue than during the height of the Shane Warne era, with successful teams requiring a talented leggie almost as a pre-requisite.

In BBL|05, the top four sides all had a permanent leg-spinner: Adelaide had Adil Rashid, Perth had Brad Hogg, Melbourne Stars had Adam Zampa and eventual champions Sydney Thunder had Fawad Ahmed.

This above is significant because of the rarity of leg-spinners. 19 players bowled off-spin in the BBL and there were only seven leggies.

At the World Twenty20 it was almost the same story, with three of the four top teams containing a wrist-spinner. Ish Sodhi (New Zealand), Adil Rashid (England) and Samuel Badree (West Indies) were all instrumental to their team’s success.

Ironically, it was the Indian team that failed to feature a leg-spinner, and they crashed out in the semi-final on home soil.

The numbers from these tournaments highlight the dominant spin type too.

In the Big Bash League wrist spinners took more wickets, from less overs and had a superior economy rate too.

No finger spinner took over eight wickets while on the other side, Rashid (15 wickets), Cameron Boyce (Hobart, 11 wickets), Zampa and Badree (both 9 wickets) all had fruitful campaigns.

BBL|05

WICKETS

OVERS

AVERAGE

ECON

SR

WRIST SPIN

59

185

22.63

7.22

18.81

FINGER SPIN

51

199.4

30.37

7.76

23.49

The World Twenty20, played on Indian pitches considered friendlier to spin bowling, produced similar results for the tweakers.

The figures make for a lot nicer reading on both sides of the equation, but the leg spinners again win the averages, economy rates and strike rates.

WT20

WICKETS

OVERS

AVERAGE

ECON

SR

WRIST SPIN

60

175.4

18.63

6.36

17.57

FINGER SPIN

106

352.1

23.71

7.14

19.93

Be warned: the IPL numbers from the current tournament are shaping up the same way.

From the first 13 matches, leg spin is averaging a wicket every 22 runs, while finger spinners are averaging an unbelievable 40.

Perhaps as Sunil Narine hits his straps he’ll bring those numbers down, but the effectiveness of Amit Mishra, Pravin Tambe and Piyush Chawla has been noted.

New guys have broken onto the scene too such as Murugan Ashwin and Pradeep Sahu and can expect bigger pay cheques in the future if this form continues.

Don’t forget there are several internationals leg spinners who haven’t even played yet this IPL, like Samuel Badree and Adam Zampa, the same guys who were so successful at the last tournaments.

Do not be surprised if this year’s IPL winner contains a skillful wrist spinner with an unpickable googly.

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